It was invincible when the changeup master met an official ball that saved the ball well. Koh Young-pyo (32), the ace of KT Wiz, flew from the first game of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) national team.스포츠토토
On the 17th (Korean time), Koh Young-pyo took the mound as the second pitcher of the national team in a practice game against the NC Dinos held at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona, USA, laying the foundation for an 8-2 victory with 1 hit, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts and no runs in 1 inning. did.
He showed everything from the strikeout ability required in short matches in international competitions to efficient pitching, which became more important due to the limit on the number of pitches. Koh Young-pyo, who took the mound twice, showed extreme efficiency in catching 5 batters even though he threw 16 balls, the fewest among the 7 national team pitchers. He caught Seo Ho-cheol’s ground ball at first base, creating a 1-4-3 double play, striking out Jang-Han Oh on a swing, and ending the inning with 10 balls. To check his condition, he was promised to throw 20 to 25 pitches, and in the end, he was able to leave the mound only after striking out An Joong-yeol with a miss swing and catching Han Seok-hyun with a ground ball from first baseman.
Another positive thing is that he perfectly adapted to the WBC official ball. In this WBC, the major league official ball, which is famous for its slippery surface, is used. After the game, Koh Young-pyo expressed his satisfaction, saying, “I felt that the side-rotating curves and sliders were a little slippery in my hands.”
On the other hand, there were also pitches that fit well. This included the two-seam fastball and changeup, where subtle differences from the four-seam fastball were important. Ko Young-pyo explained the characteristics of the WBC official ball, saying, “I throw the changeup comfortably, and the two-seam fastball seems to have more movement than I thought.”
According to Statties, a Korean baseball statistics site, the pitch usage rate last year was 45.6% for changeup and 37.3% for two-seam fastball, which is the best official pitch for Koh Young-pyo, who specializes in two pitches. In particular, Koh Young-pyo is called the changeup master of the KBO League as he is the best in the league when it comes to his changeup. Last year, the changeup hit rate was 0.220 and the OPS was 0.543.
If he meets a well-suited official ball and continues to show good performance, his chances of being selected against Japan will increase. Korea, which is in Group B of the first round with Japan, China, Australia and the Czech Republic, will play its second match against Japan at the Tokyo Dome on March 10th. At this point, Koo Chang-mo (26, NC), who is the most skilled and has strength in splitting, is a strong candidate for the match against Japan, but the possibility that Koh Young-pyo will appear cannot be ruled out.
Koh Young-pyo said, “Directors and coaches say that Tokyo Dome has an advantage in change-ups and falling balls. So, I focus on practicing and strengthening the change-up to bring out a lot of missed swings.” I remember getting hit with a Luta. He’s a good hitter against us, so I’m a bit wary of that part. My goal is to create a more sophisticated changeup than that and induce a lot of misses.”
Leave a Reply